Emulsifier



Patented Feb. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES 2,148,178 EMULSIFIER,

Leslie P. Shropshire, Trainer, Pa... assignor of forty-five one-hundredths to Wallace M. Kendrick,

Mineola, N. Y., and forty-five onehundredths to Harry A. Stendrup,

New York,

Application June 30, 1938, Serial No. 216,762

1 Claim.

. Objects of the present invention are to simplify the construction and improve the operation of emulsifiers of the type to which the present invention relates, to reduce the space required for the accommodation of the emulsifier and to cheapen its cost by reduction in the number of parts, to apply the power for driving the emulsifier in an eflicient and economical manner, and to provide an emulsifier which will satisfactorily emulsify fluids even though one or more of them is at a high temperature and is adapted to foam during emulsification with-another of them, examples of such fluids being hot asphalt and soap solution. f

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following description at the end of which the invention will be claimed.

Generally stated the invention comprises radially disposed. fixed baflle plates, radially disposed spaced heaters arranged for rotation about an axis common to the baflle plates and to the heaters and disposed in closely spaced confronting relation to the fixed baflle plates, means for rotating the heaters, a drum enclosing the baffle plates and heaters and spaced from the latter, a single inlet connection entering the drum axially, means for feeding a mixture of fluids through the single inlet, an ofitake connection .from the rim of the drum, and means adapted to create back pressure in the ofitake connection.

The invention also-comprises the improvements to be presently described and finally claimed.

In the following description reference will be made to the accompanying drawing forming part hereof and in which, 1

Figure 1 is a view principally in vertical cen tral section illustrating an emulsifier embodying features of the invention.

Figure 2 is a sectionalview taken on the line 23 of Figure 1 and looking toward the left; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 2--3 of Figure 1 looking toward the right.

In the drawing, l is an enclosed cylindrical drum. 2 is afixed inlet connection having one end 3 projecting axially through and inside of one head of the drum and having the other end turned upward outside of the drum and provided relatively little space.

the drum. 8 is a rotatable shaft extending axially through and inside of the other head of the drum. The shaft 8 is shown as provided with a sprocket wheel 9 as a means for rotating it. I I] are spaced hafiie plates radiating from and fixedly connected with the end 3 of the fixed inlet connection 2 inside the drum and spaced from the adjacent head of the drum. H are heaters radiating from the end of the shaft 8 inside the drum and they are spaced from the adjacent end or head of the drum and arranged in close proximity with the baffle plates ll); l3 is'a second set of balile plates radiating from the rotating shaft and fixed to the inside of the adjacent head of the drum and they are disposed in close proximity with the rotating heaters.

The mode of operation of the described emulsifier may he explained as follows: The fluids to he emulsified for example, asphalt fluid byheat and a soapy solution are put into the funnel 4 and they fill the interior of the drum. .The flow of the liquids through the drum is controlled by the head or .pump pressure in the inlet connec-- tion and by the resistance or back pressure'opposed by the upward extension I' of the ofitake G. The heaters II are rotated at a high speed of the order of thirty-five hundred R. P. M. It

may be remarked that the apparatus comprises a single intake and a single rotary means and consists of comparatively simple and mostly fixed parts so that it is inexpensive and occupies Inasmuch as the baflle plates are fixed they do not tend to throw the fluid toward the rim of the' cylindrical drum by centrifugal force and yet by their radial disposition they do not unduly retard proper flow through the drum. Thus the tendency of the drum to remain full of fluid at the center portion is increased and economical expenditure of power is effected. At the same time the mixture is thoroughly beaten by the coaction of'the radially disposed rotary heaters and the radially disposed fixed bailie plates in and through the space between them and the walls of the drum. The absence of the application of excessive centrifugal force to the fluids in the drum facilitates the control and adjustment of the back pressure applied in the ofitake in order to detain the flow of liquid from the drum long enough to insure its proper emulsion.

Upon reference to the drawing it will be ohserved that opposite faces of the heaters H and of the baflleiplates' are respectively disposed in planes parallel to the axis of rotation of the heaters andin a. plane transverse to said axis.

The result of this is that a face of a moving beater confronts a face of a stationary bafiie and since the confronting faces are parallel to each other the result is a beating action which is important inthe production of an emulsion.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates that modifications may be made in details of construction and arrangement without departing from the-spirit of the invention which is not limited as to such matters or otherwise than the prior art and the appended claim may require.

1' claim:

An emulsifier consisting of a closed cylindrical drum, a single fixed inlet connection having one end projecting axially through and inside of one head of the drum, an outlet connec-.

end of the rotating shaft inside the drum and 10 spaced from the adjacent end of the drum and arranged in proximity with the baf le plates, and a second set of baiile plates radiating from the rotatable shaft and fixed to the inside of the last named head of the drum and disposed in 15 close proximity with the rotary heaters.

LESLIE P. SHROPSHIRE. 

